Camera Shots in Film Making

Camera Shots

• Extreme Long Shot: a view of a situation or setting from a distance, also known as Extreme Wide Shot
• Long Shot: shows a group of people in interaction with each other, frames the subject from the knees up
• Medium Long Shot: frames the subject from the knees up
• Full Shot: a view of a figure's entire body in order to show action
• Medium Shot: also known as the Waist Shot, frames the subject from the waist up
• Medium Close Shot: shows a subject down to his/her chest or waist
• Close Up Shot: tightly frames a person or object, often used to highlight details
• Extreme Close Up Shot: a shot of a hand, eye, mouth or any object in detail
• Establishing Shot: often used at the beginning of a scene to indicate the location or setting, usually a long shot taken from a neutral position
• Point of View Shot: shows a scene from the perspective of a character
• Over the Shoulder Shot: often used in dialogue scenes, a frontal view of a dialogue partner from the perspective of someone standing behind and slightly to the side of the other partner
• Reaction Shot: a short shot of a character's response to an action
• Insert Shot: a detail shot that quickly gives visual information necessary to understand the meaning of a scene
• Reverse-Angle Shot: a shot from the opposite perspective

Camera Angles

• Aerial Shot: a long or extreme long shot of the ground from the air, also known as Bird's Eye Shot
• High-Angle Shot: makes the subject look weak or vulnerable
• Low-Angle Shot: empowers the subject, shows people or objects from below, lower than eye level
• Eye-Level Shot: views a subject from the level of a person's eye

Camera Movements

• Pan: moving the camera horizontally, either left to right or right to left, while its base is fixated on a certain point
• Tilt: moving the camera vertically, up to down or down to up, while its base is fixated to a certain point
• Pedestal: moving the camera vertically up or down while it is fixated in one location
• Dolly: moving the entire camera forwards and backwards, typically on some sort of track
• Tracking: the same as dollying, only moving the camera from left to right instead of in and out

Media and Information Languages

• Language: the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way
• Media Languages: codes, conventions, formats, symbols, and narrative structure that indicate the meaning of media messages to an audience
• Signs and Symbols: polysemic, meaning they can have multiple meanings
• Codes: systems of signs that when put together create meaning
• Types of Codes:
  • Symbolic Codes: iconic symbols that are easily understood
  • Written Codes: use of language style and textual layout
  • Technical Codes: ways in which equipment is used to tell the story